Garment



R. GRANNE Jan. 6, 1953 GARMENT Filed May 10, 1950 IN V EN TOR. 1i 0,9? Gram e ATTOR/Vf).

Patented Jan. 6, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GARMENT Rose Granne, Brooklyn, N. Y. Application May 10, 1950, Serial No. 161,090

This invention relates to garments in general, particularly to sleeping garments for women, and especially refers to garments provided with means for gently confining or locating breasts of the pendulus type.

Sleeping garments provided with brassiere structures for relatively tightly confining the wearers breasts are not unknown, but have the great disadvantage of exerting too great a pressure upon the rather tender body portions, and as a result become uncomfortable and. are apt to cause damage.

It is the intent of the present invention to provide a sleeping garment for women, and especially for women with either pendulous or ab-: normal breasts, which will confine the latter in a gentle way and locate them in their correct position, preventing the touching of one breast by the other and cause separation of the breasts from the body, especially at the bases of the breasts.

Furthermore thepresent invention contemplates a sleeping garment for women which is provided with breast accommodating means, so

' ing and breast-separating formations secured constructed that, when the wearer is in upright or standing position, they will separate the breasts and support their frontal bottom areas, thereby enhancing the wearer's appearance, and, when the wearer reclines, will still keep the breasts separated but will permit them to change their posi- ,7 tion under gentle restrain, due to normal body movements. 7

It is the primary object of this invention therefore to provide a sleeping garment for women which will gently confine and support individual; pendulous or large breasts in approximately their correct position while the wearer is either reclining, sleeping or standing,v and do so without undue pressure or strain upon these tender body parts, thereby preventing irritation or other ill effects due to forceful restraint.

Another object of this invention is to provide a womans sleeping garment, wherein the chest portion is made of'a relatively loosely fitting, substantially continuous section, at the frontportion of which are provided breast accommodating structures composed of frontal or outer and rear or inner elements, forming together relativel deep,- breast-accommodating pockets, and wherein the outer elements are secured, to the chest section by wayof a gathered, substantially crescent-shaped bottom area'which is adapted to support the frontal bottomareas of the breasts,

' and which inner elements comprise substantially independent, self-adjusting.breast-body-support along their bottom edge to the bottom edge of the outer elements, but have unattached ends, whereby 'their upper edges are rendered free and their end corners comprise freely movable termini,- and which upper edges of the inner elements are rendered expansible,being normally gathered by a gentle-acting elastic, and wherein the freely movable termini of th inner elements are suspended by substantially loop-shaped resilient tapes, which in turn are engaged and suspended by adjustable shoulder straps extending from the rear of the chest section to the front, said-shoulder straps being adapted to support the resilient tapes at their apices, thereby causing the gathered upper edges of the inner elements to gently shape themselves about the roots of the breasts, thus separating the latter from the body of the wearer.

The foregoing and numerous other objects and important advantages of the present invention willbecome more fully understood from the ensuing description in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1-illustrates a front view of a sleeping garment in accordance with the present invention';

' Fig; 2 shows the rear view of the chest enclosing section thereof;

Fig. 3 is a detail interior view of the breast pocket formation; and

Fig. 4 is a section through the breast area of the garment as worn while the wearer is in upright position.

As will be seen from the drawings, numeral l0 denotes the upper portion of a sleeping garment, which may be either of the nightgown or pajama type, and which garment is provided with a chest-enclosing section I I made of a relatively loosely fitting structure. At the upper edges of-that section there is provided a border 12 which serves both for ornamental effects as well as for reinforcing purposes. The front and rear apices of the border are joinedby adjustable shoulder straps l3 which-are preferably looped at their front ends at [4.

The breast-accommodating structure will be .best understood when consulting Figs. 1, 3 and 4. There will be observed that that structure is composed of outer and inner breast supporting elements. The outer element l5 has gathered bottom edge l6 to provide ample fullness for that element to readily accommodate the frontal portion of large breasts. Gathered bottom edge lli'is adapted to support the frontal bottom area ments. "pansible upper edges of the inner elements do of the breasts, as clearly shown in Fig. 4 and is crescent-shaped, see Fig. 1, being produced by two converging rows of stitches, an upper row I! and. a lower row [8.

The inner elements I9 of the breast pockets are best seen in Figs. 3 and 4. The bottom edges of these elements are joined with the bottom edges I6 of the outer elements by the lower row of stitching I8, .however, the ends or end edges of the inner elements are free. By consulting Fig. 3 it will be observed that the outer or left edge 20 of element [9 is entirely separated from breast-enclosng section II, while its inner or right edge is only partly attached at the lower end, as shown at 2|, whereas the upper end 22 of element I9 is unattached. Thusth-e upper corners of the inner elements form freely movable termini 23 and 24 to which are secured the ends of a looped tape 25, the apices 25 of which being suspended by loops [4 of shoulder straps iii.

The upper edges 2'! of the inner elements are soft and fluffy and are normally gathered by readily yielding elastics 28, secured at the edges by any suitable method such as zigzag stitching, see Fig. 3. The structures of inner elements 19 also provide a sufficient fullness so that they may expand and apply themselves to the interior areas of the breasts near their root, and thus separate the breasts from the wearers body, as is clearly illustrated in Fig. 4.

From the foregoing description of the garment,

and especially of its breast confining structures,

it will be clearly seen that there is no undue strain exerted upon the breasts either by the chest-enclosing section II, or by the individual breast receiving pockets formed by the outer and inner elements. It will be also understood that inner elements I9 very gently shape themselves about the breasts, while the bottom of the breasts are amply supported by the crescent shaped lower frontal portions of the outer ele- The forcibly gathered but readily exnot chafe or otherwise cause discomfort to the wearer yet at the same time confine pendulous breasts within a certain restricted area substantially in front of the wearers chest. Furthermore the breast-receiving pocket formations effectively separate the breasts and prevent them from ever touching fiesh-to-flesh while the wearer is either in a prone or upright position. The combination reinforcing and ornamental border 12 is so shapedas to form four upwardly directed corner structures to which the shoulder straps are attached. As these shoulder straps are adjusted, they place elastic tapes 25 under tension to any desired degree as is most comfortable to the wearer. Due to the tension exerted by the elastic tapes, the upper edges of the inner pocket elements are caused to gently pass beneath the breasts to hold them in proper position, but without making the wearer uncomfortable. The thus adjusted breast-supporting structure permits unrestricted movement of the wearer either in prone or upright position, while at all times confining the breasts at substantially their correct position.

The comfortable wearing effect of the undergarment is chiefly due to the particular construction of the breast-supporting pockets, including the gathered bottom edges of the outer elements and the consequent body-fullness of the latter, the arrangement of the gathered soft upper edges of the inner elements and their automate adjustability due to their resiliency and their 4 resilient suspension by way of their free termini and elastic tapes 25. The combined coaction between the outer and inner elements not only assures Wearing comfort, but also safety and non-irritation, and is equally effective While the wearer either sleeps or is in upright position.

Obviously the materials used in the production of the outer and inner elements are intended to possess certain essential characteristics; they should be soft and pliable and have smooth surface finish. Depending upon the size and structure of the wearer, either single or multiple ply material may be employed. The construction of the breast pockets may vary as well as their location, to best suit different individuals. Shoulder straps I3 may be either permanently or detachably secured to the upwardly pointing corners of chest section I l and may be of either the adjustable type as indicated, or may be in the form of ribbons which may be tied by hand. All of the above indicated and other necessary modifications being deemed to lie within the intent and scope of the present invention as defined in the annexed claims.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In a sleeping garment for women,.a breastaccommodating structure comprising readily deformable outer breast-enclosing elements having gathered bottom edges, and inner breast supporting elements fixedly secured at their bottom edges to but beneath the gathered bottom edges of said outer elements, but being separated at their upper termini from the latter elements, resilient, substantially "loop-shaped suspension means secured with their ends to the free termini of said inner elements, and adjustable straps supporting said suspension means, the outer and inner elements forming pockets open along their top edges.

2. In a sleeping garment as in claim 1, the upper edges of said inner elements being free and having secured thereto resilient means extending along the full length of these edges, that is between the free termini of said inner elements, for normally gathering and contracting the edges of these elements, but permitting their expansion and adjustment about the wearers lower breast lines as they are drawn toward the shoulders by said suspension-means.

3. A sleeping garment for women, comprising in combination a relatively loosely-fitting chestencircling portion, the front section of which having breast-accommodating structures composed of pocket-like outer and inner elements open along their upper edges, said outer elements being of an ample fullness and having gathered bottom edge formationsadapted for the support of the frontalrlowerareas of pendulous breasts, said inner elementsforming independent sections secured partly to the major portions of the gathered bottom edges of the outer elements but being separated at their side edges from the latter, the upper edges of the inner elements being free, resilient means provided along the full length of these upper edges for forcibly gathering them, the ends of said resilient means extending to the ends of these upper edges, resilient, loop-shaped suspensionumembers secured to these ends and beingadapted to elevate the latter and thus shape the upper edges of the V inner elements about the interior breast-connectpendulous breasts in position without undue pressure and for separating the breasts at their lower attached areas from the body, said structure comprising outer breast-enclosing and inner, breast-separating elements, both forming pockets with open top edges and being secured to a relatively loose-fitting chest-encircling portion provided with adjustable shoulder straps, said outer elements having substantially crescent-shaped lower, gathered edges to provide fullness for the upper portions of the elements and to support the lower bottom area of the breasts of the wearer; said inner elements being substantially independent formation secured along their bottom edges to those of the outer elements but being free at their side edges and at their upper edges, resilient means provided along the entire length of these upper edges for forcibly gathering them, elastic loops connecting the free ends of the upper edges, said shoulder strap engaging the apices of said loops.

5. In a sleeping garment, a chest-enclosing section forming a relatively loosely fitting structure provided with a reinforcing border at its upper edge, said border having two frontal and two rear elevated portions terminating in apices, adjustable shoulder straps connecting said apices and having adjustable, looped frontal ends, breast-accommodating, pocket-like structures depending from the reinforcing border portions adjacent said frontal apices and comprising outer and inner breast-supporting elements, both open at their upper edges, the outer elements havin gathered bottom edges, said inner elements being joined along their bottom edges with those of the outer elements but below their gathered portions, the upper edges of the inner elements being soft and flufiy and being gathered by a readily yielding elastic, the ends of these gathered upper edges are separated from the upper edges of the outer elements and forming free upper corners, looped tapes connecting these free corners and being engaged and supported by the looped frontal ends of said shoulder straps.

ROSE GRANNE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Chisholm Aug. 5, 1950 

